Specific Commitments From the City on Bike Safety

12:50 PM EDT on September 12, 2006

As part of today's big announcement on bike safety improvements, the City is committing to undertaking the following actions. From the City's press release:

Bicycle Infrastructure Improvements

Over the next three years DOT will install 200 miles of bicycle facilities with targets of 5 miles of Class I separated paths, 150 miles of Class II striped lanes, and 45 miles of Class III signed routes. DPR will also add 40 miles of Greenways in City parks over the next four years.
Accelerate the placement of outside bicycle parking racks citywide.
Begin construction of mountain bike trails in the South Park section of Fresh Kills, Staten Island. Complete construction of mountain bike trails in Highland Park and Cunningham Park in Queens.

Motorist and Bicyclist Awareness

Provide materials on bicycle awareness to new driver education and remedial traffic school programs.
Introduce programs to supply free bicycle helmets and instruction to all interested bicyclists in New York City.
Work with associations of bicycle riders, including delivery and messenger services, to improve bicycle safety among workers.

Investigation and Enforcement

Train more DOT accident investigation staff to ensure that all transportation fatalities are investigated in a timely manner.
Increase enforcement of laws against motorists who park or drive in a bicycle lane, and enforce traffic control obedience among motorists and bicyclists.

Legislation

Support state legislation requiring large vehicles to be equipped with cross over mirrors. These mirrors, commonly seen on school buses, increase a vehicle operator's ability to see in front of the vehicle.
Support legislation to increase the fine for motor vehicles that park in bicycle lanes within city parks.
Explore the utility of legislation as a means to increase helmet use.

Improved Data Collection, Analysis and Reporting of Bicyclist Injuries

Train health care providers to better document contributing factors in medical records.
Add a question on bicycle use to DOHMH's annual population-based telephone survey of adults to better track the bicycling population and monitor trends.
Reconcile bicyclist death information between DOT's (Fatality Database), NYPD (Accident Investigation Squad) and DOHMH's (Vital Records Death Certification) quarterly to better trackthe number of bicyclist fatalities.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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